END OF AN ERA: Egyptians celebrate in Cairo on February 11 after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down (XINHUA/AFP)

By holding senior officials accountable, Egyptian judicial authorities delivered to the people the message that the country acknowledged the urgency of addressing corruption and punishing corrupt officials.

Challenges

The entire Egyptian government system is being adjusted now. The next six months will be extremely important to the country, because in this period the interim military government is expected to create a stable situation for the September presidential election.

The interim government now faces severe challenges, including confirming presidential candidates, holding the presidential election and parliamentary elections on time and completing amending the Constitution. For now, the top item on its agenda is to resume the normal operation of central and local government departments as soon as possible, so as to establish a stable political order.

In addition, the interim government needs to end the state of emergency after the situation becomes stable, restore normalcy to everyday life, and guarantee a peaceful transfer of power to the future elected government as it promised on February 12.

Another urgent task for the interim government is to combat violence and criminality and prevent terrorism. Crimes, like arson, robbery and looting, have increased throughout the country since the protests. Extremists and terrorists have also undertaken violent activities, such as the natural gas pipeline explosion in the Sinai Peninsula in early February.

There are still many uncertainties during this six-month interim. For example, the military might choose to continue its control after it gets a taste of power. This scenario is possible, because no party is now prepared to take over the reigns after the collapse of the Mubarak administration.

It will not be easy for the interim government to implement the presidential election schedule. As time goes by, more and more parties will get involved in the election, which will make it more complicated. Disputes may arise over the composition of the election committee, the election date, election procedures and monitoring. Moreover, the result of the presidential election must be acceptable to all parties, so as to guarantee a subsequent peaceful transfer of power. As of now, no Egyptian party has an absolute political advantage, making the election result unpredictable.

Meanwhile, most of the Egyptian parties seeking office are trying to establish external connections, only to complicate the country's political landscape. It is more difficult to create a new government than to overthrow an old one. If the presidential election cannot be held as scheduled, the interim military government will likely stay in power. The role of the military will therefore be crucial to Egypt's future.

Apart from Egypt, countries including Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya, have also been the sites of anti-government protests in recent months. Social conditions in these countries are surprisingly similar: government corruption, big gaps between the rich and the poor, and high unemployment and inflation rates. Economic problems are generating a domino effect in the Arab world.

The author is a research fellow with the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences